EIGHT FINGERS YAAAAAAAY!!!!
IWA-MS and RCW combined on Saturday, March 6th 2004 to bring a double header of wrestling action. I had all day free with nothing to do so I went to enjoy some wrestlefight. The first show is Misfortune a show by Revolution Championship Wrestling (RCW) at 1pm in LaSalle, IL. So I make the 108.6 mile (Thank you Yahoo! Maps) journey out to LaSalle. As per usual in these write ups I take someone else’s results and throw my thoughts afterwards. This time I’m using Al Lagattolla’s results from chicagowrestling.com .
MATCH 1: Spyder Nate Webb beat Jason Allen and Matt Sydal in a three-way match. Matt Sydal was working both shows in the double header, but Nate Webb was working a show in between the double header so he was pulling triple duty. There is an extremely low ceiling in the banquet halls that RCW runs so Nate wasn’t able to do all the top rope flipping that usually is part of his entrance. So instead he got all the wrestlers to dance to ‘Teenage Dirtbag’ with him (all 3 are faces,) then the ring announcer, and eventually the referee. It was a quick little match to determine the #1 contender. Nothing to write home about, nothing offensive either.
MATCH 2: Alternative champion Danny Daniels successfully defended against Mike Matthews. Matthews is still a little young and it showed. Daniels covered as much as possible and showed why he is the best heel in the Midwest right now. He recently had ear surgery and is wearing headgear and working it to his Angle-esque best. These last two matches were this early on the card because Danny Daniels was driving Nate to the middle show. I haven’t seen results for that show yet so he might have been on that card too and been pulling triple duty, but I’m not sure.
MATCH 3: Sheik Shawn Daivari beat Cru Jones (with Eryn). Sheik really seems to be enjoying playing the role as recently turned face Muslim as he did a great job of playing up the crowd. They built much of the match as Eryn trying to keep Daivari from hitting his top rope maneuvers. The match ended with Diaviari hitting his ‘Magic Carpet Ride’ (top rope splash with his magic carpet) after kicking off Eryn who was trying to knock him off (she took a hard bump in the process.) She seemed to be having trouble walking because her thigh high vinyl boots seemed to have 9 inch heels at least. But the matching vinyl hot pants-tiny shirt combo made it all worth it.
MATCH 4: ODB and Rain beat Lacey and Daizee Haze: I still am not much of a Daizee Haze fan, but she definitely seems to be improving. ODB & Rain won after Daizee accidentally hit Lacey.
MATCH 5: Vanilla Shakes won (and lost) a four-way tag match involving Brandon and Sal Thomaselli (with Iggy), XXXPlicit Content (with Mia Martinez) and Ryan Boz and Colt Cabana: Very fun match with lots of old school 80’s spots, including Danny Scott of XXXPlicit Content doing the stomp all the way around the body spot. There was also a spot with 4 airplane spins in the ring at once. Cabana was loving being in the ring again, and responded to the welcome back chants with “Hey I just love to wrestle.” It was an interesting set up to the match as you were allowed to tag in anyone but your partner. There were two face teams (Boz/Cabana and XXXPC) and two heel teams (Thomasellis and Shakes) so with the rules it usually ended up with faces tagging the other face team and the heels doing the same. It worked well for the flow of the match that was good work mixed in with quality comedy spots.
At this point they took an intermission. I omitted telling you at the beginning of the report that half of the banquet hall was already set up for a wedding reception later that day. Well during the intermission guest for the reception started showing up. By the end of the show the reception area was full, and the wedding party was hiding out watching the show waiting for it to end to start their reception. They mostly seemed to be enjoying the show. Now the guests didn’t seem as happy, except this group of ladies that looked around in their seventies. They seemed to be perfectly happy looking at the handsome young me.
MATCH 6: Eric Priest beat Lenny Lane: Lenny Lane was flat out terrible in the ring, although he still looks huge. Priest won with a handful of tights.
MATCH 7: Eric Marx and Stryc-9 beat Danny McKay and Derek St. Holmes (with Josh Castilli): This wasn’t much of a match either. St Holmes book was used (and destroyed) in the finish.
MATCH 8: Egotistico Fantastico beat Delirious in a matchup of masked wrestlers: Very good match. Delirious yells that I caught included Mr. Belvedere and a little ditty about a hamburger.
MATCH 9: "Airborne" Vito Thomaselli (with Sal and Brandon Thomaselli and Iggy) beat Austin Aries to remain RCW champion: Solid hard hitting stiff match to end the show.
It was a solid show, a few sub par matches but nothing was terrible. Nothing extremely stood out though either. The four way tag was probably the match that will be remembered easiest.
Three hours of wrestling down. It’s about 4:15p and the IWA-MS show is at 7:30p. So off I go for the 93.4 mile trip over to Highland, Indiana for the IWA-MS show. They always say you never know whom to expect at an IWA show. There was only one surprise tonight, but for me, it was all the surprise that was needed.
IWA MIDSOUTH
MATCH 1: Emil Sitoci beat Cru Jones, Trik Davis and Frankie The Face: This is a match between four guys that are working their way up the undercards of IWA. Trik was in this match because Cash Flo apparently got injured. It was a decent match to start off the show. Cru Jones was a heel in RCW, but played a face here, this would be a theme for the night as it was a touch confusing when you saw someone play face in the first show and heel later that day, it’d be even more confusing during the ladies match
MATCH 2: M-Dogg 20 and Josh Prohibition beat Vito and Sal Thomaselli, the Iron Saints: I’ll say right now, I hate Josh Prohibition. He is sloppy, mugs for the camera and just flat out sucks. I have no beef with M-Dogg and I really dig the Thomasellis. This was a decent match when Josh wasn’t involved. Ian looks to be having a good team brought in and showed off on these shows in anticipation for their Tag Title Tournament on May 29.
MATCH 3: Tracey Smothers beat Conrad Kennedy III: CK3 came out and started talking trash about highspotkateers (TM Raven) and deathmatchers and instantly goes from heel to face in my book. He goes on to brag about being trained by NWA people and asks which IWA deathmatch loser or spot monkey he has to face. They pause for a while to make you wonder and then ‘If the South Would have Won’ by Hank Jr. came on and I LOST MY SHIT. Then I was embarrassed because since this was Tracy Smothers’ first appearance in Highland hardly anyone else knew who it was and I was on my feet LOSING MY SHIT. But then Tracy came out of the door and everyone else joined me in collectively LOSING THEIR SHIT. Great old school match that went long (theme for the night)
MATCH 4: Ryan Boz (with Jim Fannin) beat Road Dogg BG James: Road Dogg came out to the Oh You Didn’t know music. He did the whole spiel, except he didn’t request that I call somebody. The match itself was weak because Road Dogg didn’t seem to want to take anything but shoulder blocks, head locks, and arm wringers. Match ended when Fannin and the ropes helped hold Road Dogg down for the pin. There was after match mic work and setting up for a tag match for the next night with Road Dogg & Trik Davis vs. Boz & Fannin.
Intermission. Actually this was before the show, but I’ll tell you here. They moved merchandise left and right, and they sold out of last month’s show within 5-10 minutes of opening the doors.
MATCH 5: Lacey won an unbelievably excellent 6-woman elimination match against Rain, One Dirty Bitch (ODB), MsChif, Mickey Knuckles and Daizee Haze: Last month Ian went off about how in IWA the ladies aren’t about T&A and they can really wrestle. They proved it in this one (although they are still T&A since Lacey and Rain are FINE) at The RCW show there was Lacey & Daizee as faces going against Rain & ODB as heels. Well the match in IWA was ODB, Mickey, & Daizee as the faces; and Lacey, Rain, & MsChif as heels. Lacey and Rain worked together, as they are a regular tag team in IWA. MsChif was working as the gothic loner, and all three faces worked together. If there was a weak link in this awesome match it’d have to be Daizee, but there was a little she did wrong. This was ODB and MsChif’s first IWA Highland appearance. All the ladies were there working snug, and MsChif impressed greatly. Garnering Bullshit chants when she was eliminated. Final two were Lacey and Rain. Neither wanted to fight the other so Lacey went for the I’ll lie down and let you pin me, but you’re an idiot and shouldn’t have trusted me roll up. Even though they’ve wrestled each other many many times before they still finished up with a great match. All 6 ladies came out to a constant standing ovation from the crowd. Prazak came on the mic and praised ladies wrestling (he’s been actively working to build up ladies wrestling) they all then took a final bow. Oh I almost forgot to mention not only does MsChif rule in the ring, two words: GREEN MIST!!!!
MATCH 6: Arik Cannon beat Ian Rotten: This was the perfect example of hardcore wrestling, as it should be. This was stiff solid and hard hitting, and didn’t involve garbage. After the match the crowd asked Ian to get on the mic. You could tell he didn’t really want to, because he got a lot of heat for talking too much and taking heat off his wrestlers. He put over Arik Cannon, and pretty much let it known, that since Hero isn’t in IWA, Ian is looking for Cannon to take over the role of technical wrestling superstar for the company.
MATCH 7: Steve Stone beat Zach Gowen: Zach Gowen is still working the heel persona to perfection. His I’ve been on TV, I’m the reason you came spiel is working perfectly. Stone basically brought his powerful striking offense and defeated Zach. My personal favorite spot in the match was after Stone destroyed him with a lariat early in the match, he then took the leg off tossed it towards him and begged off by saying “I only have one leg” then lured Steve in and got him down. Zach then stood up, put the leg back on, cupped his ears Hogan style, and then he dropped the big prosthetic leg on Stonie.
MATCH 8: Light-heavyweight champ Matt Sydal successfully defended against Delirious in a best-of-three match. The usual great match from these two. Delirious repeated the Mr. Belvedere spot. These two are good because they actually have a story in their matches to go with the highspots. They fit the story, especially with the wackiness that Delirious brings to the table.
Another intermission. It’s already midnight and there are two matches to go. So even though there are still lines at gimmick tables and concession stand, they start going.
MATCH 9: IWA champion Jerry Lynn successfully defended against Danny Daniels (with Jim Fannin). Colt Cabana was the guest ref. This is Danny’s only rematch against Jerry Lynn: Colt gets the mic beforehand and lets everyone know that ROH is his home. He lets everyone know he’ll be at the 3/13 show. He then states that he’s only reffing this match because Jim Fannin wanted him to, and that he’ll call it right down the middle (wink, wink.) Once again the main event of an IWA show isn’t as good as most of the matches on the show. Although I admittedly am not a fan of Jerry Lynn, so that probably didn’t help the match. Colt was hysterical as the ref. And it was a good match; it just didn’t stand up to the rest of the card. The finish involved Colt finally getting sick of Fannin getting on the apron and he went to push him off. Shenanigans occurred and all in all Jerry got the clean pin, and Fannin was pissed that Colt didn’t (wink wink) follow the deal.
MATCH 10: Spyder Nate Webb beat JC Bailey in a Texas Death Match. After this match they can not wrestle again for one year: This was the usual shenanigans between these two. Once again they did the sloppy chair throwing that had sides of chairs hitting each other at high velocity. There was barbed wire. There was a sick spot with JC Bailey in the Stinkface/Bboy face wash position and Spyder did a cross body at his head where Spyder landed on the floor and the back of JC’s head got sliced on the metal that holds the turnbuckle. JC got taped to the ropes and asked, “What did the five toes say to the face?” He then proceeded to hit three of the stiffest spinning toe kicks to JC’s head I’ve seen. They took it to the crowd and brought out the fork slicings. Spyder got $7 stapled to him, including his nose. JC got his tongue stapled as well. Spider tried to send JC through the announce table 3 times unsuccessfully. Eventually Spyder finally got the win. He finally beat JC after he had been chasing the win for months. After the match they shook hands and hugged, then JC attacked again and left Spyder lying. JC left saying it’s not over. Prazak then said it is over. Spyder and JC both started pleading that they get to wrestle each other again. Ian gets called out and they plead to him. Ian then goes on to talk about how he needs to keep some wrestlers and if these two keep killing themselves, he won’t have any wrestlers left since Hero left him. They keep pleading and Ian has to play the dick role to say not for one year. Ian then says to Spyder that he knows Nate is always asking Prazak “If Ian likes me?” Ian then lets him know he loves him and wants him to be able to keep wrestling and this is for both of their own good. If after the year is up they still want to wrestle then they can. It’s all over and finished and the show is over. Then Nate gets the mic and surprises every one (Prazak and Ian included) by letting everyone know that it was his 5th anniversary of his first match and he’s happy it went down like that. Then they hit his music and he dances with Ian a bit, and everyone’s all smiley and happy to go home.
The 40.9 miles to go home concludes the around 250 miles driven for 8+ hours of wrestling. I left about 10am and got home around 1:45am for a full day of driving and wrestling. I had lost my voice after the first show, and kept on yelling throughout the second. It was a fun day. I like wrestling.
MATCH 1: Spyder Nate Webb beat Jason Allen and Matt Sydal in a three-way match. Matt Sydal was working both shows in the double header, but Nate Webb was working a show in between the double header so he was pulling triple duty. There is an extremely low ceiling in the banquet halls that RCW runs so Nate wasn’t able to do all the top rope flipping that usually is part of his entrance. So instead he got all the wrestlers to dance to ‘Teenage Dirtbag’ with him (all 3 are faces,) then the ring announcer, and eventually the referee. It was a quick little match to determine the #1 contender. Nothing to write home about, nothing offensive either.
MATCH 2: Alternative champion Danny Daniels successfully defended against Mike Matthews. Matthews is still a little young and it showed. Daniels covered as much as possible and showed why he is the best heel in the Midwest right now. He recently had ear surgery and is wearing headgear and working it to his Angle-esque best. These last two matches were this early on the card because Danny Daniels was driving Nate to the middle show. I haven’t seen results for that show yet so he might have been on that card too and been pulling triple duty, but I’m not sure.
MATCH 3: Sheik Shawn Daivari beat Cru Jones (with Eryn). Sheik really seems to be enjoying playing the role as recently turned face Muslim as he did a great job of playing up the crowd. They built much of the match as Eryn trying to keep Daivari from hitting his top rope maneuvers. The match ended with Diaviari hitting his ‘Magic Carpet Ride’ (top rope splash with his magic carpet) after kicking off Eryn who was trying to knock him off (she took a hard bump in the process.) She seemed to be having trouble walking because her thigh high vinyl boots seemed to have 9 inch heels at least. But the matching vinyl hot pants-tiny shirt combo made it all worth it.
MATCH 4: ODB and Rain beat Lacey and Daizee Haze: I still am not much of a Daizee Haze fan, but she definitely seems to be improving. ODB & Rain won after Daizee accidentally hit Lacey.
MATCH 5: Vanilla Shakes won (and lost) a four-way tag match involving Brandon and Sal Thomaselli (with Iggy), XXXPlicit Content (with Mia Martinez) and Ryan Boz and Colt Cabana: Very fun match with lots of old school 80’s spots, including Danny Scott of XXXPlicit Content doing the stomp all the way around the body spot. There was also a spot with 4 airplane spins in the ring at once. Cabana was loving being in the ring again, and responded to the welcome back chants with “Hey I just love to wrestle.” It was an interesting set up to the match as you were allowed to tag in anyone but your partner. There were two face teams (Boz/Cabana and XXXPC) and two heel teams (Thomasellis and Shakes) so with the rules it usually ended up with faces tagging the other face team and the heels doing the same. It worked well for the flow of the match that was good work mixed in with quality comedy spots.
At this point they took an intermission. I omitted telling you at the beginning of the report that half of the banquet hall was already set up for a wedding reception later that day. Well during the intermission guest for the reception started showing up. By the end of the show the reception area was full, and the wedding party was hiding out watching the show waiting for it to end to start their reception. They mostly seemed to be enjoying the show. Now the guests didn’t seem as happy, except this group of ladies that looked around in their seventies. They seemed to be perfectly happy looking at the handsome young me.
MATCH 6: Eric Priest beat Lenny Lane: Lenny Lane was flat out terrible in the ring, although he still looks huge. Priest won with a handful of tights.
MATCH 7: Eric Marx and Stryc-9 beat Danny McKay and Derek St. Holmes (with Josh Castilli): This wasn’t much of a match either. St Holmes book was used (and destroyed) in the finish.
MATCH 8: Egotistico Fantastico beat Delirious in a matchup of masked wrestlers: Very good match. Delirious yells that I caught included Mr. Belvedere and a little ditty about a hamburger.
MATCH 9: "Airborne" Vito Thomaselli (with Sal and Brandon Thomaselli and Iggy) beat Austin Aries to remain RCW champion: Solid hard hitting stiff match to end the show.
It was a solid show, a few sub par matches but nothing was terrible. Nothing extremely stood out though either. The four way tag was probably the match that will be remembered easiest.
Three hours of wrestling down. It’s about 4:15p and the IWA-MS show is at 7:30p. So off I go for the 93.4 mile trip over to Highland, Indiana for the IWA-MS show. They always say you never know whom to expect at an IWA show. There was only one surprise tonight, but for me, it was all the surprise that was needed.
IWA MIDSOUTH
MATCH 1: Emil Sitoci beat Cru Jones, Trik Davis and Frankie The Face: This is a match between four guys that are working their way up the undercards of IWA. Trik was in this match because Cash Flo apparently got injured. It was a decent match to start off the show. Cru Jones was a heel in RCW, but played a face here, this would be a theme for the night as it was a touch confusing when you saw someone play face in the first show and heel later that day, it’d be even more confusing during the ladies match
MATCH 2: M-Dogg 20 and Josh Prohibition beat Vito and Sal Thomaselli, the Iron Saints: I’ll say right now, I hate Josh Prohibition. He is sloppy, mugs for the camera and just flat out sucks. I have no beef with M-Dogg and I really dig the Thomasellis. This was a decent match when Josh wasn’t involved. Ian looks to be having a good team brought in and showed off on these shows in anticipation for their Tag Title Tournament on May 29.
MATCH 3: Tracey Smothers beat Conrad Kennedy III: CK3 came out and started talking trash about highspotkateers (TM Raven) and deathmatchers and instantly goes from heel to face in my book. He goes on to brag about being trained by NWA people and asks which IWA deathmatch loser or spot monkey he has to face. They pause for a while to make you wonder and then ‘If the South Would have Won’ by Hank Jr. came on and I LOST MY SHIT. Then I was embarrassed because since this was Tracy Smothers’ first appearance in Highland hardly anyone else knew who it was and I was on my feet LOSING MY SHIT. But then Tracy came out of the door and everyone else joined me in collectively LOSING THEIR SHIT. Great old school match that went long (theme for the night)
MATCH 4: Ryan Boz (with Jim Fannin) beat Road Dogg BG James: Road Dogg came out to the Oh You Didn’t know music. He did the whole spiel, except he didn’t request that I call somebody. The match itself was weak because Road Dogg didn’t seem to want to take anything but shoulder blocks, head locks, and arm wringers. Match ended when Fannin and the ropes helped hold Road Dogg down for the pin. There was after match mic work and setting up for a tag match for the next night with Road Dogg & Trik Davis vs. Boz & Fannin.
Intermission. Actually this was before the show, but I’ll tell you here. They moved merchandise left and right, and they sold out of last month’s show within 5-10 minutes of opening the doors.
MATCH 5: Lacey won an unbelievably excellent 6-woman elimination match against Rain, One Dirty Bitch (ODB), MsChif, Mickey Knuckles and Daizee Haze: Last month Ian went off about how in IWA the ladies aren’t about T&A and they can really wrestle. They proved it in this one (although they are still T&A since Lacey and Rain are FINE) at The RCW show there was Lacey & Daizee as faces going against Rain & ODB as heels. Well the match in IWA was ODB, Mickey, & Daizee as the faces; and Lacey, Rain, & MsChif as heels. Lacey and Rain worked together, as they are a regular tag team in IWA. MsChif was working as the gothic loner, and all three faces worked together. If there was a weak link in this awesome match it’d have to be Daizee, but there was a little she did wrong. This was ODB and MsChif’s first IWA Highland appearance. All the ladies were there working snug, and MsChif impressed greatly. Garnering Bullshit chants when she was eliminated. Final two were Lacey and Rain. Neither wanted to fight the other so Lacey went for the I’ll lie down and let you pin me, but you’re an idiot and shouldn’t have trusted me roll up. Even though they’ve wrestled each other many many times before they still finished up with a great match. All 6 ladies came out to a constant standing ovation from the crowd. Prazak came on the mic and praised ladies wrestling (he’s been actively working to build up ladies wrestling) they all then took a final bow. Oh I almost forgot to mention not only does MsChif rule in the ring, two words: GREEN MIST!!!!
MATCH 6: Arik Cannon beat Ian Rotten: This was the perfect example of hardcore wrestling, as it should be. This was stiff solid and hard hitting, and didn’t involve garbage. After the match the crowd asked Ian to get on the mic. You could tell he didn’t really want to, because he got a lot of heat for talking too much and taking heat off his wrestlers. He put over Arik Cannon, and pretty much let it known, that since Hero isn’t in IWA, Ian is looking for Cannon to take over the role of technical wrestling superstar for the company.
MATCH 7: Steve Stone beat Zach Gowen: Zach Gowen is still working the heel persona to perfection. His I’ve been on TV, I’m the reason you came spiel is working perfectly. Stone basically brought his powerful striking offense and defeated Zach. My personal favorite spot in the match was after Stone destroyed him with a lariat early in the match, he then took the leg off tossed it towards him and begged off by saying “I only have one leg” then lured Steve in and got him down. Zach then stood up, put the leg back on, cupped his ears Hogan style, and then he dropped the big prosthetic leg on Stonie.
MATCH 8: Light-heavyweight champ Matt Sydal successfully defended against Delirious in a best-of-three match. The usual great match from these two. Delirious repeated the Mr. Belvedere spot. These two are good because they actually have a story in their matches to go with the highspots. They fit the story, especially with the wackiness that Delirious brings to the table.
Another intermission. It’s already midnight and there are two matches to go. So even though there are still lines at gimmick tables and concession stand, they start going.
MATCH 9: IWA champion Jerry Lynn successfully defended against Danny Daniels (with Jim Fannin). Colt Cabana was the guest ref. This is Danny’s only rematch against Jerry Lynn: Colt gets the mic beforehand and lets everyone know that ROH is his home. He lets everyone know he’ll be at the 3/13 show. He then states that he’s only reffing this match because Jim Fannin wanted him to, and that he’ll call it right down the middle (wink, wink.) Once again the main event of an IWA show isn’t as good as most of the matches on the show. Although I admittedly am not a fan of Jerry Lynn, so that probably didn’t help the match. Colt was hysterical as the ref. And it was a good match; it just didn’t stand up to the rest of the card. The finish involved Colt finally getting sick of Fannin getting on the apron and he went to push him off. Shenanigans occurred and all in all Jerry got the clean pin, and Fannin was pissed that Colt didn’t (wink wink) follow the deal.
MATCH 10: Spyder Nate Webb beat JC Bailey in a Texas Death Match. After this match they can not wrestle again for one year: This was the usual shenanigans between these two. Once again they did the sloppy chair throwing that had sides of chairs hitting each other at high velocity. There was barbed wire. There was a sick spot with JC Bailey in the Stinkface/Bboy face wash position and Spyder did a cross body at his head where Spyder landed on the floor and the back of JC’s head got sliced on the metal that holds the turnbuckle. JC got taped to the ropes and asked, “What did the five toes say to the face?” He then proceeded to hit three of the stiffest spinning toe kicks to JC’s head I’ve seen. They took it to the crowd and brought out the fork slicings. Spyder got $7 stapled to him, including his nose. JC got his tongue stapled as well. Spider tried to send JC through the announce table 3 times unsuccessfully. Eventually Spyder finally got the win. He finally beat JC after he had been chasing the win for months. After the match they shook hands and hugged, then JC attacked again and left Spyder lying. JC left saying it’s not over. Prazak then said it is over. Spyder and JC both started pleading that they get to wrestle each other again. Ian gets called out and they plead to him. Ian then goes on to talk about how he needs to keep some wrestlers and if these two keep killing themselves, he won’t have any wrestlers left since Hero left him. They keep pleading and Ian has to play the dick role to say not for one year. Ian then says to Spyder that he knows Nate is always asking Prazak “If Ian likes me?” Ian then lets him know he loves him and wants him to be able to keep wrestling and this is for both of their own good. If after the year is up they still want to wrestle then they can. It’s all over and finished and the show is over. Then Nate gets the mic and surprises every one (Prazak and Ian included) by letting everyone know that it was his 5th anniversary of his first match and he’s happy it went down like that. Then they hit his music and he dances with Ian a bit, and everyone’s all smiley and happy to go home.
The 40.9 miles to go home concludes the around 250 miles driven for 8+ hours of wrestling. I left about 10am and got home around 1:45am for a full day of driving and wrestling. I had lost my voice after the first show, and kept on yelling throughout the second. It was a fun day. I like wrestling.
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